School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China.
School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Int J Health Geogr. 2024 Mar 7;23(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s12942-024-00365-8.
Current research on public spaces and mental health often focuses on the independent relationship of one or more social mediators, neglecting the nuanced implications and serial mechanisms inherent in the progressive social process. Using Wuhan city, China, as a study case with multi-source data, this research applies Multilevel Generalized Structural Equation Modeling and deep learning techniques to explore the differential effects of public spaces with varying degrees of publicness (i.e., typical, semi-, and privately owned) on rural migrants' mental health. Crucially, this study scrutinizes both explicit (social interaction) and implicit (perceived integration) social mechanisms to revisit the relationships. The findings reveal that not all public spaces equally influence mental health, with typical and privately owned public spaces conferring profound benefits. Notably, public spaces impact mental health chiefly through perceived integration instead of through direct social interaction. Social interaction improves mental health primarily by enhancing perceived integration, suggesting that meaningful connections beyond superficial encounters are critical. In particular, we observed significant social effects in typical and privately owned public spaces but limited social functionality in semi-public spaces. This evidence contributes to the knowledge required to create supportive social environments within public spaces, integral to nurturing inclusive urban development.
当前有关公共空间与心理健康的研究通常侧重于一个或多个社会中介因素的独立关系，而忽略了渐进社会进程中固有的细微差别和连续机制。本研究以中国武汉市为例，运用多源数据，采用多层次广义结构方程模型和深度学习技术，探讨了不同公共性程度（即典型、半公共和私人所有）的公共空间对农村流动人口心理健康的差异影响。重要的是，本研究深入探讨了明确的（社会互动）和隐含的（感知融合）社会机制，重新审视了这些关系。研究结果表明，并非所有公共空间都对心理健康产生同等影响，典型和私人所有的公共空间带来了深远的益处。值得注意的是，公共空间主要通过感知融合而不是直接的社会互动来影响心理健康。社会互动通过增强感知融合来改善心理健康，这表明超越表面接触的有意义联系至关重要。特别是，我们在典型和私人所有的公共空间中观察到了显著的社会效应，而在半公共空间中则表现出有限的社会功能。这一证据为在公共空间中创造支持性社会环境提供了必要的知识，这对于培育包容性城市发展至关重要。
